Official results from Brazil's Superior Electoral Court (TSE), finalized shortly after 9:00 p.m. local time on Sunday, confirmed that Lula garnered just over 51 percent of the vote, more than 64 million ballots. Flávio Bolsonaro trailed with 48 percent, more than 59 million votes. The margin, separated by more than four million votes, underscored the deep divisions within the nation.
Lula's fourth term begins on January 5, 2027, and will likely be the last of a political career that began in the 1970s as a union leader.
"It is impossible to acknowledge the result"
Flávio Bolsonaro, however, has refused to concede, alleging that the Supreme Court's decision to extend polling hours by two hours compromised the fairness of the contest.
"It is impossible to acknowledge the result," Bolsonaro declared, claiming that the rules were altered mid-game and indicating he intends to seek an annulment of the vote.
His campaign chief, Rogério Marinho, denounced the last-minute extension as "a judicial coup."
The atmosphere remains tense despite the official declaration. Bolsonaro's central campaign promise was to free his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro — currently under house arrest for directing a coup attempt after the last election that included a plot to kill the PT leader — and to impeach Alexandre de Moraes, the Supreme Court judge who convicted him.
Trump watched closely — and his son cried foul
The outcome is a major setback for the Bolsonaro political movement, with Flávio failing to accomplish what his father also couldn't in 2022: defeat Lula at the ballot box. It is also a blow in Washington, where President Donald Trump is a close ally of the Bolsonaro family.
Before polls closed on Sunday, Trump said that he was "monitoring" Brazil's presidential runoff. Although he declined to endorse either candidate, he previously praised Flávio's first-round performance and described the election as "very important." He had called Bolsonaro's narrow first-round lead over Lula "close, but a very, very big victory."
Reuters reported on Saturday that a campaign was underway inside Trump's State Department to help get the Bolsonaros back in power.
Donald Trump Jr. weighed in on social media after the result: "If a conservative government in Brazil did this, everyone in the mainstream press in America would lose their minds, but I guess they're just choosing to be silent because it's all for the cause."
Lula: "A historic turning point for democracy"
Addressing supporters from a platform draped in national flags, an audibly hoarse Lula spoke of the legislative challenges ahead. "I do not choose the Congress. It was the people who chose it, and it is with them that I will vote, work and get things approved."
He thanked the voters who cast their ballots "to secure democracy in the country." Edinho Silva, the head of Lula's Workers' Party, posted on social media: "A historic turning point for democracy."
Lula fought back during the campaign by making national sovereignty a central theme. In an opinion piece published Saturday in Folha, one of Brazil's largest newspapers, he argued that "truly patriotic Brazilians" had participated in mass rallies in recent weeks "to defend what is ours: our sovereignty, our rare earth resources, our oil and our Amazon."
Markets react and a divided Congress awaits
The first financial reaction was negative. In offshore trading on Sunday evening, before Brazilian markets reopened, dollar futures against the real jumped sharply and a Tokyo-listed Ibovespa fund fell by more than 10 percent. Those early moves came in thin trading, but they show where investor concern lies: public debt, the credibility of the government's spending framework, and pressure on the central bank to keep interest rates high.
Lula's Workers' Party and its allies remain well short of a majority in either chamber of Congress. That means his fourth term will depend, even more than his third, on negotiations with Brazil's centrist parties, known as the Centrão.
Relations with the United States became a central campaign issue. The Trump administration imposed steep tariffs on Brazilian exports and designated Latin American drug-trafficking groups as terrorist organizations, a step that raised concerns in Brazil about sovereignty. Lula campaigned partly on standing up to outside pressure, while emphasizing Brazil's sovereignty and closer ties with the Global South and China amid tensions with the US administration.
Lula's victory keeps Brazil as one of the region's leading left-leaning governments at a time when the right has gained ground across Latin America.
Fuentes: CNN, USA Today, NY Post, Reuters, CEOWORLD.